MLB 13: The Show is Getting Ready for Spring Training

By: Louis Edwards

The highest-rated sports videogame over the past 4 years (according to average ratings on MetaCritic.com and GameRankings.com), MLB® 13 The Show™ is once again ready to provide fans with over 50 enhancements, and new features that will make every baseball fan think they are really living the Major League Baseball® (MLB®) experience.

Available exclusively for the PlayStation®3 (PS3™) and PlayStation®Vita (PS Vita) systems, The Show continues to deliver the most realistic baseball experience with its enhanced, true-to-life gameplay, authentic franchise and season modes and incredible detail not found in any other sports game.

MLB 13 The Show improves upon what has been delivered in previous franchise releases, and also adds many new features that continue to push the envelope in the sports video game genre including an All-New Playoff Mode, a new beginner mode for an accessible pick-up-and-play baseball experience, and an improved Play Now mode for faster and simpler games. With cross platform play in Home Run Derby mode and save functionality between the PS3 and PS Vita versions, The Show allows players to continue their season anywhere.

Due to hit stores on March 5, 2013, just in time for Spring Training™, MLB 13 The Show is prepared to deliver a one-of-a-kind experience for all fans, no matter the age or skill level, and prove once again to be the industry’s premier licensed MLB game.

NEW FEATURES IN MLB 13 THE SHOW:

¨ The “Post Season” Mode (PS3 & PS Vita) – MLB 13 The Show will introduce users to Post Season Mode this year as it offers quick entrance directly into the Post Season, fast-tracking your run to the World Series. The mode offers you the choice of selecting to play with one team, or all 10. All of the game control options you’ve come to know are available in this mode, including: single player, head-to-head play, co-op play, and PlayStation®Move support.

¨ Cross Platform Online Home Run Derby (PS3 & PS Vita) – MLB 12 The Show introduced Online Home Run Derby™ to PS3. MLB 13 The Show brings this experience to PS Vita with the inclusion of cross platform play. Regardless of whether users are logged into a PS3 or PS Vita, selecting an Online Home Run Derby match will gather users into one game experience.

¨ Beginner Mode (PS3 & PS Vita) – In an effort to make The Show more accessible and to help users learn the fundamentals of the game, Beginner Mode has been added. Beginner mode uses an advanced, adaptive AI system that dynamically updates your skill level on the fly

¨ New Push/Pull Hitting Trajectories Engine (PS3 & Vita) – New to MLB 13 The Show is our Push/Pull hitting trajectory tendencies engine. When you hit select during the pitcher-batter matchup, the in-game screen will show you if the current hitter is Extreme Pull, Pull Hitter, Balanced, Opposite field Hitter, or an Extreme Opposite field hitter.

¨ Franchise and Season Mode Evolution (PS3 & PS Vita) – MLB 13 The Show is set on improving the user’s experience in Franchise mode by focusing on player development, while creating a more realistic and dynamic league as time progresses. Additions include a newly implemented team budget that focuses on a reward-penalty system which is solely based on a team’s performance on the field. This new budget system results in a more dynamic league, in which a low-budget team can become a big spender after a period of sustained excellence, mirroring real teams in the big leagues.

¨ Road to The Show Evolution (PS3 & PS Vita) – One of the most popular aspects of MLB 13 The Show, Road To The Show, has been reworked this year in an effort to provide players with the most immersive and realistic on-field experience ever in a sports video game. More focus has been made to bring simpler control over a users’ player on the field in order to bring an unparalleled experience to the game.

¨ The Show Live (PS3 & PS Vita) – The Show Live provides an exhibition-based mode using data from MLB.com to populate daily match-ups, line-ups and starting pitchers, giving users the opportunity to play in an environment that matches the “real-world.” The Show Live presents games in the same way as season-based modes, with up-to-date player and team statistics. Hear commentators reference the previous or next day’s events, based on real-world situations and information. Users have the choice to play a game from today, or turn the calendar back and play any game from earlier in the season.

¨ Diamond Dynasty 2.0 (PS3) – Diamond Dynasty juggles aspects of team management, player progression, and online competition, with more creative freedom than any sports game to date. In order to improve Diamond Dynasty, feedback from The Show Nation was used to expand and fine tune the systems that make up the mode. DD will now be simpler to understand for new users, while also being easier to navigate and manage for previous users. In addition to being more intuitive, visual tutorials walk users through the more complex screens or systems within DD.

Diamond Dynasty introduces the Designated Hitter in MLB ’13. Users can choose whether they want to play by American or National League rules at their home park.

The Marketplace gets a haul over as well as users can post and cancel orders with ease. The Marketplace has gotten smarter, minimizing the amount of potential exploits.

The Dynasty card type has also evolved. Dynasty Cards now display more information about the player’s abilities. Each Dynasty Player has maximum thresholds he can reach in each attribute, so picking which cards to activate to a team has become much more important.

¨ TruBroadcast Presentations 2.0 (PS3) – Adding new scenes, new cameras, new OSDs, new music and new audio, True Broadcast Presentations 2.0 continues to blur the line between reality and The Show. This year focuses on further refinement of game continuity through the restructuring of thousands of presentations but also a heavy emphasis on taking stadium ambiance and big game atmosphere to a new level.

¨ New Scouting and Training System in Franchise Mode (PS3 & PS Vita) – A “human element” was incorporated into MLB The Show’s Scouting system, which affects the user’s decision making process when dealing with scouting directives, position changes and, ultimately, drafting a player. .

¨ Road To The Show Commentary and Presentation Evolution (PS3)– The Road To The Show mode received a major commentary and presentation overhaul in an effort to bring the focus back to the player in the mode. Hundreds of new presentation scenes have been created and thousands of new commentary lines have been recorded to give the RTTS player the attention he deserves and to highlight notable single-game, single-season, and career achievements like milestones and records.

¨ Online Road To The Show Leaderboard (PS3 & PS Vita)- Users can track their Offline Road to the Show careers and compare their player against all players from the community using RttS Leaderboards. Users can compare stats to see who is considered the best at their position, at similar levels. Users and their stats will be grouped by organization level: Double-A, Triple-A, MLB, as well as by position. All this will be tracked, displayed and sortable as long as you are connected online and PlayStation®Network signed in.

¨ Universal Profile (PS3 & PS Vita)- Universal Profile provides a central hub for any statistics a user records while playing The Show, Regardless of the modes or platform played, stats will be tracked and viewable in a user’s profile. In addition, profiles will have levels associated with them. As a user plays, they accumulate experience (xp) towards their profile’s level.

¨ Button Accuracy Meter (PS3 & PS Vita)– Users will now have more control over the fielding aspects of the game than ever before. For users who choose the new button accuracy meter they will now have complete control over the fielders arm accuracy and arm strength. No longer will an errant throw be the result of a random dice roll.

¨ Steve Lyons Joins The Booth (PS3 & PS Vita) – Joining the The Show’s Broadcast team for MLB 13 is MLB veteran Steve Lyons. Steve started his Broadcasting Career with Fox in 1996, and has called several Division & League Championship series with the network. Steve currently does Color Commentary for the LA Dodgers.

Steve brings new energy and insight into the game, refreshing the commentary for MLB 13 The Show.

¨ MLB 13 Online Leagues Overhaul (PS3) – This year with MLB 13 The Show Online Leagues has been given a complete and total overhaul. New features include being able to play the real MLB schedule with all 30 teams, coupled with upgrades and refinements – like being able to manually control the pace of the league. Ultimately, the commissioner of a league will have the tools to be able to create and customize it in order to play with anyone anywhere to have a complete MLB experience in an online environment.

The Best Gets Better! MLB 13 The Show includes over 50 more enhancements, new features, and improvements!

1. Hitting engine improvements deliver more hit variety than ever before
2. Wider timing window across all difficulty levels
3. Improved ball physics (less ground rule doubles etc.)
4. Over 250 new fielding and running animations
5. Over 90 new batting stances
6. Over 130 batting stance re-captures for players who changed their stances
7. Over 50 new pitching motions
8. Over 60 new HR swings
9. New Defensive Positioning screen, view the whole field and watch your players shift on the fly
10. Franchise Mode: Team specific player valuations, which affect drafting, trades, free agency, etc.
11. Franchise Mode: Projected team budgets and free agents for the upcoming season
12. Franchise Mode: Previous award winners and each team’s Hall of Fame members will now be tracked and displayed
13. Franchise Mode: Ticker in Franchise that displays scores, milestones, trades, etc.
14. Franchise Mode: Top 50 Prospect icon, used to indicate the best up-and-coming minor leaguers
15. Franchise Mode: Organizational Depth Chart which displays your starters at each level (AA, AAA and MLB)
16. New CBA “Qualifying Offer” system included
17. 7 New Minor League and Spring Training stadiums
18. On screen Tutorials to help you navigate some of the more complicated screens
19. New silhouette bat when bunting
20. Back picks while a catcher in RttS
21. Ability to assign swing animations when creating or editing a player… follow through, step in, etc…
22. Big glove for catcher when a knuckle ball pitcher is on the mound
23. Over 500 new presentations
24. Pitcher Energy/Rotations for Online Play Now
25. Mercy Rule for online games
26. Twitter in The Show
27. Ping indicators in online game rooms
28. New online ranked game Play Now flow with game worth
29. New post-game summary screen for all online ranked games
30. Player photos updating with Roster updates
31. In-game simulator when FF to the end of game
32. PCI Appearance – There are 4 alternate PCI appearances
33. Pitcher Batter Analysis will now display 40 instead of 25 pitches
34. New Throwback uniforms
35. More catcher animations on plays at the plate providing more exciting outcomes
36. Enhanced CPU base running. Less predictable and more human like behavior
37. New base running animations “around the bases”. Allows for more control of your base runner
38. New Pulse pitching, Meter pitching, and strike zone art
39. New player accessories
40. New online ticker design, more stats and information
41. RTTS infielder’s pickoff request
42. New more interactive user steal system
43. Improved CPU pitcher substitution logic
44. New player card
45. Guess pitch evolution
46. RTTS Removal of the “green-light” system
47. Over 1,000 new RTTS-specific presentations
48. New RTTS user catch option
49. New RTTS On/Off options for ball halo and ball trail
50. Over 15 new batting camera’s and 5 new pitching camera views